India: Citizens Appeal To All Political Parties to Stand United Against the BJP led Alliance in the 2019 National Elections

The 2019 elections are going to decide the destiny of India like never before. A Govt elected by 31 per cent of those who cast their votes in 2014 is determined to change the very nature of India against the will of the 69 per cent who voted for the Opposition parties: India that had withstood even the trauma of Partition and retained its pluralist character which is now under serious threat by the present Govt and its ideological parent, the RSS. The real fight is for saving the very soul of our great nation with such a glorious, ancient history and civilization from the devastating onslaught unleashed by the current regime.

It is thus a decisive time for the Opposition parties and leaders to rise to the enormity of their responsibility and suspend their individual and party’s egos for small gains here and there. The stakes are much higher now. It is time for showing magnanimity in putting up a single front to defeat the pseudo-nationalist, power-hungry regime; remember 69 per cent of voters in 2014 voted for you, but you frittered it all away at the altar of factional and individual egos. Surely, if it happens again, there would be nothing left to fight for. There have of course been recent, laudable examples of sacrifice of such egos and inflicting crushing defeat on the ruling party. It is our fervent appeal to follow these examples to save India.

We suggest that in opposition to the ruling party’s agenda of “Divide and Rule”, let the Opposition parties set an alternate agenda with the focus on the shared cultural inheritance and common destiny. It is also important to bring issues of steady economic decline over the past five years on all fronts—farmers, jobs, small traders — on one hand and the growth of crony capitalism on the other. Corruption has also entered centre stage over these years. And of course the question of the sanctity and autonomy of institutions and indeed of the Constitution itself are crucial for this agenda.

We hope that our appeal will be given serious consideration when strategies for the elections are drawn up. Our hope rests with you.